Browns: Peyton Hillis' calendar has camps, Madden

Before 2011, Peyton Hillis hosted one football camp ... two years ago in his hometown of Conway, Ark.

Back then, he was a relative NFL unknown, but as a former Arkansas Razorback fullback who helped pave the way for Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, Hillis will always be a hometown hero.

Flash forward two years, and everything is different. The 2011 NFL season is in limbo, and Hillis is champing at the bit to get back at it. Those times as an NFL unknown? No more for the Browns running back.

In Cleveland, he's approaching superstar level, and because of it, he's able to branch out beyond his hometown. Hillis' next official football business is his July 9 football camp, presented by State Farm, at St. Ignatius High School, an event Hillis has circled on his calendar.

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"I absolutely love being around kids because they just love the game," Hillis said in a phone interview with The News-Herald. "That's how I remember it was when I was a kid."

After that, it's a matter of if and when there's an NFL season. Should the lockout continue, there will be plenty of anxious players wondering what date to circle, but only one has Aug. 30 circled, albeit for a different reason.

Mention the date, and say no more to Hillis. It's the day the Madden 12 video game, with Hillis as the game's cover athlete, hits stores. Hillis beat out the Eagles' Michael Vick for the honor in an ESPN.com fan vote.

"I think it's going to be big. I hope it's big for fans," said Hillis, who admits he has an affinity for the retro Nintendo game, Tecmo Bowl. "And I don't want it to be big for me, I want it to be big for the city and the fans of Cleveland because it's them that put me on the cover. But I'll treat that day like any other day and hopefully it will be about a week before the (NFL) season starts."

Notice the key word, "hopefully." Many are fearing the worst for the NFL season, predicting the season might not start Sept. 11, when the Browns are scheduled to play host to the Bengals in the opener. In the meantime, quarterback Colt McCoy has hosted "Camp Colt," a gathering of Browns players, Hillis included, to at least stay productive.

"It's great. Colt's been getting the guys together to get back into the groove and getting our timing back and learn the playbook a little bit," Hillis said. "But for the most part, we're all doing our own thing in the offseason. We're all ready to get back, that's for sure."

Last year at this time, things were much different for the Browns. Eric Mangini was the coach, Jake Delhomme was the starting QB and most assumed Jerome Harrison would be the featured running back. Then the team traded Brady Quinn to the Broncos and in return acquired Hillis, who was mostly a backup during his first two NFL seasons.

A season later, Hillis has a 1,177-yard and 11-touchdown season to his credit, and a legion of fans in his corner.

"The fans embraced me. This is my kind of town," he said. "My kind of fans ... hard-nosed, blue-collared people. You just love being around them."

The feeling seems mutual, as it does with McCoy, so it only seems natural Hillis and McCoy have suddenly become the faces of the franchise.

"I feel like it's all a blessing," said Hillis. "Colt, he's a great guy. We both know this is a blessing that's been thrown at us. We will take advantage of it while we can, and we're going to be the most humble that we can possibly be, and we're going to treat the fans of Cleveland like they should be treated. We're going to try to give them a winning team. That's our main goal and our main focus as far as football goes."

If Hillis and Co. can produce that winning team, it will have to be done quickly. That might be a challenge with a new system, the West Coast offense under Coach Pat Shurmur, to grasp, learn and execute. If any player is equipped for that scenario, it's Hillis.

"There's gonna be bumps and bruises here and there, but for me I've had five different head coaches in five different years and five different playbooks," he said. "So it's been a roller coaster for myself as far as coaches and playbooks, but I think it's going to come easier than it has in the past."